FresnoZionism.org — ציונות פרסנו

So Fatah and Hamas are merging, and will create a unity government for the Palestinian Arabs.

As I wrote yesterday, the differences between Fatah and Hamas fall in the realms of cosmetics and tactics:

• Fatah, dedicated to the violent destruction of Israel no less than Hamas, is prepared to say pleasant things in English. Hamas is not.
• Fatah is willing to take a state on as much territory as it can get, promise peace, and then move toward its objective, as spelled out in its ‘plan of phases‘. Hamas will only agree to a hudna (temporary truce) if Israel withdraws from all the territories. Then the war will continue.

Ultimately, although they are quite different in the kind of life they will offer the Arabs in their state — Hamas will enforce Islamic law — there is no difference for Israelis. They will be dead or dispersed if either gets its way.

Neither Hamas nor Fatah intend to engage in bilateral talks with Israel. Hamas spokesperson Mahmoud Zahar said yesterday that

Our program does not include negotiations with Israel or recognizing it … It will not be possible for the interim national government to participate or bet on [sic] or work on the peace process with Israel.

Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah/PLO made one of his typically ambiguous statements, which will be jumped on as a ray of hope by peace processors:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas signaled on Thursday that peace talks with Israel would still be possible during the term of a new interim government formed as part of a unity deal with Hamas.

Abbas said the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which he heads and to which Hamas does not belong, would still be responsible for “handling politics, negotiations” …

In his comments, Abbas also addressed reactions by Israeli officials to the Hamas-Fatah unity deal, saying: “Netanyahu and Lieberman said yesterday that I had to choose between Israel and Hamas, but Hamas is part of the Palestinian people, and whether or not you like or agree with them, they are part of our nation and they cannot be extracted from us.”

But Abbas has refused to negotiate with Israel until now — for 10 months because the official freeze on construction in settlements did not include Jerusalem (although de facto it did), and after that because Israel refused to extend the freeze.  Do you think the presence of Hamas in his government will render him more likely to talk? I don’t. Anyway, he has his heart set on getting everything he wants from the UN without having to give up anything to Israel.

The ‘peace process’ which began with Oslo is now officially dead. May it rest in peace.

Pro-Israel US Congress members are saying that if a Palestinian Authority (PA) unity government that includes Hamas is set up, and if Hamas doesn’t agree to recognize Israel, accept prior commitments of the PA and renounce terrorism, then the US must, by law stop all assistance to the PA. The European Union (EU), also, has demanded that Hamas must meet the substantially equivalent ‘Quartet conditions’ (of course they manage to help Hamas in other ways).

I can’t imagine that this will happen. I expect that Hamas will say something, anything, that the Administration will be able to interpret as meeting its criteria for a civilized Palestinian government.

The last time Hamas was part of a unity government (2006), Fatah threw them out in response to international pressure  and then Hamas took over in Gaza by force of arms (2007). This time I don’t think there will be that kind of pressure. The world has begun to accept the murderous, racist Hamas. We can thank the international Left and the Turks for their flotillas, Israel for its failure to complete Operation Cast Lead, and the weakness of the Obama Administration for not allowing Israel to put real pressure on Hamas.

So what’s next? Nothing good. Here are the choices, as presented by ‘Joe Settler’ in the Muqata blog:

Scenario 1 is that by September the EU, the UN, and everyone else willfully ignores that Hamas is part of the PA government. They go to the UN. Everyone votes for the new terrorist state – the US certainly won’t be a party-pooper and veto it. And presto, instant state.

Scenario 2. This summer they launch a full out war against Israel with Hezbollah’s help. At some point they run to the UN and beg for a cease fire, and while they’re at it, declare this their war of independence, which the UN will recognize as such (you can bet they like this scenario better, because it includes a war).

In either scenario, they get a state and come October, Hamas takes over. But they don’t care. Phase 2 will have been achieved.

The PA isn’t interested anymore in maintaining the fiction of Peace, because they are solely working towards a unilateral declaration of a state and war with Israel.

Do you think his remark that they prefer war is an overstatement? The PLO charter, never revoked despite lies and obfuscation, includes this:

Article 9: Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine.

The Hamas Covenant includes this:

Article Thirteen: There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad.

I hope ‘Joe’ and I are wrong. But I don’t think so.

Technorati Tags: Hamas, Fatah, Israel, war

News item:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement and its rival Hamas said on Wednesday they had resolved their deep divisions, opening the way for a unity government and national elections. The deal, which took many officials by surprise, was thrashed out in Egypt and followed a series of secret meetings. The two groups hammered out an agreement, setting the stage for forming an interim government as well as fixing a date for a general election. The accord was first reported by Egypt’s intelligence service, which brokered the talks…

Spokespeople for both Hamas and Fatah confirmed that “all differences” have been worked out between the long-feuding Palestinians political movements.

Is this to be believed? Keep in mind, that when Hamas overthrew the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Gaza, some Fatah officials were taken to the top of tall buildings, shot in the knees and dropped off.

Fatah is a secular, Arab nationalist party. It was founded in 1959, and during the period that the Soviet Union supported the Arab states against Israel, took on a Marxist orientation. One of its founders was Yasser Arafat. In 1969, Arafat took over the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which was recognized as the “sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people” by the Oslo accord and which became the dominant power in the Palestinian Authority (PA), the pseudo-government set up by Oslo. Fatah has a ‘military’ (terrorist) wing called the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades from which somehow it manages to distance itself in order to be treated as a legitimate ‘partner’ by Israel and the West.

Despite the viciousness of Hamas and Hizballah, etc., Fatah has probably been responsible for more terrorist murders of Israelis over the years than any other group. But despite the policy clearly enunciated by Fatah and the PLO (including the most recent Fatah convention in 2009) advocating the violent replacement of Israel by an Arab state, it is considered a ‘moderate’ Palestinian organization because its leaders are prepared to make moderate-sounding statements in English.

Although Fatah claims not to be antisemitic or pro-terrorism, the PA media that it controls is full of antisemitism, incitement to murder, and glorification of terrorist ‘martyrs’.

Hamas is an Islamist party. It is explicitly antisemitic and calls for violent jihad against the Jewish state. Unlike Fatah, its spokespersons do not make moderate noises in English, so it is considered beyond the pale by Israel and the West. Hamas believes in strict application of Islamic law, and its reign in Gaza has been marked by persecution of Christians, limitation of the freedom of women, etc. Hamas has been waging war on Israel from its base in Gaza, launching thousands of rockets and trying to kidnap Israelis. Hamas has been holding kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit incommunicado since June of 2006.

Hamas and Fatah have very little in common from an ideological point of view, except a commitment to violent ‘resistance’ against the ‘occupation’, which means a Jewish state of any size between the Jordan and the Mediterranean. The most significant differences between them relate to the kind of Arab society that they would establish in Israel’s place, and the tactics that they have been employing in the struggle with Israel today.

Fatah and Hamas have negotiated on and off since the Hamas coup in Gaza without result. So why are they suddenly able to reach an agreement?

The PA has recently been quite successful in getting various nations to sign on to the idea of a unilateral declaration of statehood according to the 1949 armistice lines. If they can get the UN to call for such a state and a sufficient number of countries recognize it, then they will have their state without having to make any compromises for the sake of Israel — no recognition as a Jewish state, no secure boundaries for Israel, no demilitarization or other security concessions, and, importantly, no agreeing to give up further claims against Israel, including right of return for Arab ‘refugees’. A state like this would immediately be in a position of confrontation with Israel, and I expect that it would immediately become a locus of terrorism.

This would be a big win for the ‘Palestinian movement’ in general, because it will significantly advance the common goal of both groups, which is getting rid of those pesky Jews for once and for all.

But there is a big problem, which is that the Europeans will not agree to recognize such a state under a PA that does not represent all of the ‘Palestinian people’ (40% of them live under Hamas in Gaza). So in order for this to work, it’s necessary to at least give an appearance of reconciliation. I expect also that there will have to be some kind of representation that the new regime, including Hamas, will be peaceful.

Once the state is declared, Hamas and Fatah can go back to struggling for complete control of ‘Palestine’. Palestinian elections are scheduled for 2012, but D-Day for the big push in the UN is September 2011.

My guess is that the agreement will be long on generalizations and short on specifics, and that it will also contain some kind of language designed to soothe the US and Europe, who have in the past refused to recognize a PA that includes Hamas unless Hamas agrees to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept prior PA agreements (the Oslo accords). Hamas has never been prepared to do these things, but today conditions are especially ‘good’:

• The prize is great — they smell victory
• The Europeans (and the Palestinians think the US as well) are really pushing for Palestinian unification
• The atmosphere in Egypt is now much more supportive
• They know that agreements are made to be broken

It is also possible that there will be a renewed push to get Marwan Barghouti out of Israeli jail, where he is serving a life sentence for multiple murder, because he is considered by many to be the man who can bring the factions together.

What will the Obama Administration do? So far, it has opposed a unilateral declaration of statehood, calling for a negotiated agreement between the parties. Who knows if it will be able to resist the temptation if the Fatah/Hamas ‘reconciliation’ is convincing enough?

Technorati Tags: Hamas, Fatah, Israel, Palestinian statehood

Arabs vandalize Joseph's tomb and adjacent yeshiva in 2000

Joseph’s tomb is located in an area that was placed under Palestinian control by the Oslo accords. However, access to Jewish holy places was supposedly guaranteed, and Israeli soldiers were stationed there to protect Jewish worshipers. In 1996, it was attacked by Palestinian Arab ‘police’ and terrorists (are they different?) and six IDF soldiers were killed. The Arabs were ‘furious’ (aren’t they always?) ‘because’ Israel had opened an additional entrance to a tunnel that ran under the Western Wall, and about 80 people were killed in ensuing riots.

The second Intifada in 2000 (‘because’ Ariel Sharon had visited the Temple Mount) brought another attack, in which an Israeli border patrolman was killed. After that the IDF sporadically arranged visits for Jews wanting to pray there, although the building was vandalized and had garbage dumped at the site.

The Muqata blog brings the story up to date:

Sometimes the IDF coordinates visits in the middle of the night and brings in busloads of people (unless they think it is too dangerous), but more often Breslev Hassidim sneak in and out in the middle of the night.

Early this morning [April 24, 2011] (5:40AM), after finishing their prayers a carload of Breslev Hassidim were attacked by Palestinian policemen.

Originally 3 carloads of Jews arrived at the tomb to pray, but PA policemen waiting there shot in the air and 2 of the cars immediately left. The third carload of Breslevers stayed to pray.

After the prayers, when the Hassidim were driving out, the Palestinian policemen (trained and funded by the US) drove their PA police jeep up to the car with the Hassidim in it and opened fire.

One Israeli, Ben-Yosef Livnat (age 30) was killed and 3 more injured. Livnat is the nephew of Minister Limor Livnat.

Do you see? Let them think that they are safe, and then shoot them down in cold blood. After all, they are not only Jews, they’re ‘religious’, with their black hats. Only killing a ‘settler’ gets an Arab gunman more honor.

When does enough become enough? How many murders have to be committed by Palestinian Arabs just because the victim was a Jew and it was convenient to kill him, before there is a fundamental change in our way of thinking about Palestinian Arabs?

When do we stop treating Arab rights as top priority and start worrying about our survival? This applies to the ordinary terrorist in the street and to the Palestinian ‘security services’ that the US administration thinks it has trained to be ‘professional’, but it also applies to the Palestinian Authority that most of the world thinks should have a state.

Peace is not a possible outcome. The alternatives are effective self-defense or suicide.

Update [0019 PDT]: Israel National News reports:

Speaking to reporters Sunday morning, one of the Bresolv Hassidim [sic] who was in the vehicle shot at by PA police earlier outside the Tomb of Joseph said that it was clear that the PA police were shooting to kill. “They fired several long rounds at our cars, and yelled ‘Allahu Akhbar.’ There is no doubt they were shooting to kill us,” the witness said.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Joseph’s tomb

For those of you who are missing Moty, Udi, Shula and the group, the artist took a week off for Passover, and now is working overtime to finish a book that he is illustrating. He will be back soon! In the meantime, you can see previous Moty & Udi cartoons here.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Moty & Udi

Claudia Milani, the girlfriend of brutally murdered 'activist' Vittorio Arrigoni, visits his mourning tent in Gaza, wearing a checkered kefiya and what appears to be a PLO flag.

Arrigoni was an International Solidarity Movement activist, full of hatred for Israel, so much so that he was unable to feel sympathy for Gilad Shalit, imprisoned alone in a bunker in Gaza since June 2006 without Red Cross visits or communication with his family. Arrigoni created this album of cartoons, and he had the word ‘resistance’ in Arabic tattooed on his right arm. His death generated outrage in the ranks of Hamas (as well as a very clumsily photoshopped picture of Arrigoni with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh).

He was probably kidnapped by a group called “tawhid wal jihad” (monotheism and holy war), which demanded the release of its leader, who was in a Hamas jail. But long before the deadline expired, Arrigoni was found dead, hanged or strangled. Their motives aren’t clear, but it’s been suggested that the ‘monotheists’ wanted to establish their bona fides as uncompromising fighters against ‘Western corruption’.

So what about his girlfriend? It would be surprising if Claudia Milani had a different point of view than Arrigoni, and apparently she didn’t. Here is a photo from a Facebook page created by Arrigoni (in Italian) and a comment posted by Milani (h/t: Harry’s Place):

Sign in the window of a cafe in Petra, Jordan

Milani’s comment:

Sì, è eccessivo.

Ma è la riprova, se mai ce ne fosse bisogno, se mai la Storia non fosse riuscita ad insegnarci alcunché e noi da Lei nulla siamo stati in grado di imparare, del fatto che l’apartheid generi odio, l’odio rabbia, la rabbia il …torpore della ragione.

Inaspettatamente ingenuo, Israele, e con esso l’Occidente tutto, se ha creduto che il genocidio del popolo palestinese potesse restare impunito, stanca di ripeterlo.

Ancora grazie a te, Vik, che mai ti unisci al nostro coro e mentre noi gridiamo che questo mondo ci ripugna, stai in prima linea nel tentativo di rivoltarlo.

Here is a translation (thanks to a reader it’s much better than the Google version). Her position is clear:

Yes, it is excessive.

But it is proof if ever proof were needed, if ever history was not able to teach us anything, and if we haven’t been able to learn from it, that apartheid engenders hatred, hatred rage, and rage the slumber of reason.

Surprisingly naive, Israel and with her all the West has believed that the genocide of the Palestinian people would go unpunished, one gets tired of repeating it.

Again, thank you, Vik [Arrigoni], who never joined our choir while we cried that this world is repugnant to us, you were at the forefront in trying to overturn it.

Why do I care that the girlfriend of this murdered supporter of terrorists shares his offensively false beliefs?

Because she works for Amnesty International, which is supposed to be concerned with everyone’s human rights. I submit that taking the insane position that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian Arabs disqualifies her as having even a semblance of the impartiality that we must demand from this organization.

By the way, one of the first bloggers to notice this connection was Elder of Ziyon, who was taken to task by Amnesty for ‘targeting’ the bereaved woman. It also denied any anti-Israel bias. Here is part of his response:

In fact, Amnesty itself has no problem partnering with organizations that are explicitly dedicated to Israel’s destruction. If Amnesty accepts ab initio that the destruction of the Jewish state is a legitimate position, it is difficult to accept their argument that they are not biased against Israel.

It’s an unfortunate fact that the human rights industry devotes far more of its resources to the alleged violation of the rights of Palestinian Arabs, than to any other national or ethnic group — including those that actually are targets of genocide. Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, many lesser NGOs and the UN human rights establishment itself, seem to exist primarily to attack Israel.

Another example is that of Hina Jilani, the Pakistani feminist lawyer, a co-author of the libelous Goldstone Report which accused Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza. After the principal author, Judge Richard Goldstone, recanted the most vicious accusation, that Israel deliberately intended to harm the civilian population, Jilani (with the other two co-authors) reiterated her support for the report’s conclusions.

Phyllis Chesler, an American Jewish and feminist activist, wrote an open letter to Jilani, asking how it was possible that they could both share a concern for oppressed women, while Jilani could not see the blatant bias against Israel and antisemitism that suffused the UN and the human rights NGOs. Chesler wrote,

I once worked at the United Nations. In my opinion, it is completely ineffective save in two areas: It has legalized Jew-hatred with a vengeance and it has provided a High Life for many Third World/developing world professionals who wish to be well paid to live in the West and yet also wish to retain or achieve reputations as champions of justice. Therefore, I understand the price you would have to pay if you broke with UN-Think or with Third World Think which is so intensely anti-American, anti-Western, and anti-Israel—the convenient scapegoats for all the crimes and ills of the Arab and Muslim world.

Chesler’s letter is worth reading in its entirety. Will she get a meaningful answer? I doubt it.

Updated [24 April 1644 PDT]: A reader who reads Italian has improved the translation greatly from the Google version.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Vittorio Arrigoni, Claudia Milani, Amnesty International, Hila Jilani, Phyllis Chesler